The Dark Mirror
by Nymphriella
Summary: Zekk is stranded. Stranded on a world forgotten by the galaxy, by the universe, but ravaged by all of its woes. He realizes then the true price of the wars and things that have take a toll on all he knows personally; the new generation believes in nothing
1. Chapter 1

(This is my disclaimer:...)

_Into a strange new world, into the after_

_All your tears might find you've fallen too far_

_Take another look, take another ride_

_Can't we make them leave the hate behind_

_And I still believe in nothing_

_Will we ever see the shape of tomorrow?_

_Into the empty storm, into the formless loss of hope,_

_Where we can forget the game_

_And I still believe in nothing_

_Will we ever see the cure for our sorrow_

_Nothing is sacred when no one is saved_

_Nothing's forever so count your days_

_Nothing is final and no one is real_

_Pray for tomorrow and find your empty still_

_Nothing -Believe in Nothing-All That Remains_

I had thought, that after the Shadow Academy, I had lost my innocence. That we all had to a degree, but that I had the most. Then the Vong War, and watching the one brilliant light I never thought would flicker darken to crimson...then I thought I had lost my innocence. Watching dear friends die, and change. After the Vong War, the Second Galactic Civil War. I thought I had lost my innocence definitely by then, lost the illusions I had. As I met that young girl's eyes I knew I had some illusions left in me still.

How old was she 16? She looked younger...but somehow I knew she was 16. Her eyes were not 16 though, her eyes were old and tired, they held a depth of pain and despair that was at odds with 16. The eyes were strange, tricolored...a dark charcoal rim around an iris that was blue but with a green rim around the pupil. They reminded me of the choppy seas off the coast of Ennth right before the moon destroyed the planet again. At 17 I killed in cold blood, yet somehow I looked into that small girl's sea colored eyes and saw the steel that had been forged by killing many times. That shattered some illusion I had, some belief in innocence.

In that time she was studying my eyes as well. To this day, I do not know what she saw. She spoke first though, Surveying the wreckage behind me. What had been my ship. She looked at me. "Come on then...you can't stay here. Take the things most important to you, and come with me" her voice held no emotion, save compassion. "My ship.." I started "Will be destroyed. I can protect it or you..I am choosing you" her voice brokered no argument.

"But," I started to argue.

"We tarry to long" she said sharply, as other voices and noises suddenly made themselves apparent.


	2. Chapter 2

I heard a male voice say "I'll go ahead. James check the are for enemies, check the underway, mainly. John go back to headquarters and notify that we have a crash"

The young girl stiffened, tensed but I felt no fear in her. Suddenly a man, no a boy, came into view. The boy couldn't be but one or two years older than the girl. The boy's dark brown eyes held the same old, tired look that bespoke of a depth of horror that still cut me to believe possible in one so young. His eyes passed over me and I felt I was being judged and found worthy, a feeling that still rankled me, a feeling I rarely felt anymore.

Then his eyes fell on the young girl and it seemed a lifetime of emotions passed through them, when he spoke his voice was harsh but somehow belied by the way he looked at her.

"Elfaba you are in Phoenix territory, you should not be here. The stranger is ours as is his ship." his voice was angry.

Her voice was persuasive and she stepped away from me, but in front of me and stepped towards him her hand reaching out. He flinched as if he were being burned. She didn't complete the action.

"Antny…why are you doing this? Why are you letting Dyrak rule you like this?" her voice held warmth and compassion.

"I will not kill you, Elfaba, out of respect for the friendship I once held with you and your dead sister…but I will implore you. Join me, join Phoenix before you end up dead like Everda…I will not fail my master should you test my loyalty again." his voice sounded hard but I picked up the tremor in his body.

"Phoenix? I would rather die, Antny" the boy flinched again.

"Phoenix is master of the entire city, Elfaba, and as the former princess you would surely be elevated to a rank like that which you enjoyed once before...you can't continue to live like this…as he posts more troops it will become more dangerous to scavenge…you will die. Join us," the boy Antny pleaded again.

"You are no longer even master of yourself, Antny, since when have you been willing to call anyone master? Surely you can see what he is doing to you? He has made you his goon, his weapon." the girl sounded close to tears, and I felt a heaviness in the air.

"Let me explain something to you, Princess, this isn't your world. When we meet again, I will kill you" with that the young boy left his dark cape swishing behind him. Suddenly it wasn't those two I saw but two others a boy and a girl also. The urban area faded and I saw for a moment a dark forest. The girl no longer had sea colored eyes but brandy brown orbs, which were so innocent.

For a moment the memory threatened to overwhelm me but the girl was pulling my arm.

"Hurry up old man," she said, but not disrespectfully, "We do need to leave. Antny won't harm us and he will order a way cleared but I do not think we should tarry"

I followed her, feeling oddly raw.

We had traveled for almost a standard time part , going deeper and deeper until we reached a door. The girl leaned up against it and I felt her unlock it with the force. I realized what I had been suspecting was true the girl could wield the force even if she did it subconsciously mostly. She entered the house and I followed. She seemed lost in thought and didn't speak.

******************************************************************************************

"So who was that" I asked over a decent meal. Some whiskey and fruit, and bread.

"Who was whom?" she asked absently as she ate a piece of bread. She didn't seem to be eating much and I was worried that this was due to a lack of food.

"The boy, Antny?"

"Ahh, I suppose you should know a little of the world you have stumbled into. I suppose I should tell you the story. First though, I would like to know your name. You have probably gathered I am Elfaba"

"My name is Zekk" I replied.

"Ok Mr. Zekk, let me tell you a little about my planet. We are relatively small and were ignored much by the goings on in the galaxy until 24 ABY. We were mainly isolationist, and self sufficient economically. We had a monarchy that ruled the entire planet, with the help of many assemblies that each made rules of a region. Our people were mostly happy, at least I like to believe they were. We had a few unjust rulers but they were generally dethroned by the assemblies. As you may have guessed my mother was our last Queen. This all changed when the Vong came. They were not here long and they were mainly concerned with the aristocracy because we were what they considered Jeedai. We could tap into the force energy but generally speaking only tapped into the energy concerning our own planet. How else would a rule know the people or the planets needs? Anyway at first only the aristocracy was persecuted and imprisoned. I was born in such imprisonment… as was Everda, my sister." she paused a moment "My twin sister"

She closed her eyes but I did not interrupt. "The Vong left soon and the people destroyed space travel in an effort to keep such a thing from happening again. However, there was now a void of power. Some people came in control of Vongese…" here she seemed to search for a word, as her face twisted in disgust "devices. Soon the planet was divided into regions again ruled by war lords. This lasted a time. Then the sickness was released" she drew in a deep breath, a shaky breath.

"People died, mainly adults. It wasn't until late we would figure out that mainly force sensitives had survived. Though not all force sensitives survived, no one who was not force sensitive survived. We still don't understand what happened. At the end, Dyrak was our only warlord. He named his guards and his regime Phoenix. He implemented a harsher rule than this planet has ever seen." she stopped here.


	3. Chapter 3

The girl stopped, and I would have let her except the story hadn't answered my question. I still do not understand why I had to ask; perhaps I wanted a different story. I repeated my earlier question. The girl did not flinch; not exactly her face was masked with a kindness.  
She drew in a deeper breath and began.

"Everda and I met Antny when we were four. It was five years before our mother would die. Antny-Antheny, actually- had no mother. He was a year and six months older. Oh how that seemed so much then. Regardless, I, in my infinite four year old wisdom decided everyone needed a mother and offered to share mine with him. He was adamant that he needed no one...he seemed so sure about it I believed him. But I then decided whether he needed one or not mothers were nice and I would share mine with him, and so I changed tactics. He had two choices, he could share my mother or I would be his mother…I was always such a wondrous negotiator. "

A slightly less troubled smile lit her face, or more the memory of a smile. "There was a forest back then on the edge of the city. After the Vong had left, my mother knew what would happen. She always knew things, even when and how she would die…" here the young woman blanched slightly but continued on stubbornly.

"Anyway, Antny became our best friend, our only friend. He didn't seem to care that we were the daughters of the princess. The first time I ever confronted my mother in an argumentative way was over him. We were out running around the city-a forbidden thing but my sister and I had no fear then, and something to prove I think- and I noticed something. It took a while. My entire life I had been surrounded by those with strong force ties to this planet. Something that had been claimed for years only the aristocracy had. That claim had been instilled because of a prophecy that the Vong would wipe out force sensitives…. I did not know it was a falsehood but soon after seeing Antny use abilities like those my sister and I possessed, I demanded the truth. She told me the truth…she also told me not to tell Antny. I planned to anyway. I left the next day, before the suns rose and sought him out. I had never been into the city on my own…but the city was part of my world and so I would not get lost. I found him easily. Force bond, though I would not understand that until later. At first he did not believe me, he thought it was a cruel joke."

She sighed and I heard a tinge of hurt

"I do make irreverent jokes but never cruel intended against people I care for…Anyway he left before I could explain everything. He decided I was telling the truth. I followed him but did not find him in time to avoid catastrophe. He attempted to do something that with a little training would have been possible. He actually didn't fail…anyone who had been trained even slightly would know so. Unfortunately his gathered audience-the youth guard at the time of the current City Lord- had neither talent nor training and didn't know he did not fail. I'm afraid things went badly-I only have what I gathered from people later to go on. I also know that one in the crowd did believe him. One, who had been searching for proof of this for years, was also in this crowd. I tried to find Antny vainly after that. He was unconsciously blocking me, our bond. I stayed in the city for three days. On the third one I went heard a commotion and ran to see my beloved forest burning. Over the next few days aristocrats were being rounded up. Nearly all had taken their children and hidden in the forest if they survived the Vong. My cousins and aunts and uncles were rounded up. I could not find my mother and sister. I kept returning to the ashy remains of the forest searching for them. To no avail. My mother had severed the ties completely in order to protect me. Sad, I understand what happened now, but then could not figure it out. I found them on execution day. My mother was on a platform embraced in the Vong device that tears as it holds. She was tortured to death-in front of people that she had grown and lived to protect. As her life left the world I was filled with a fire I still cannot comprehend. I would have killed them all; at least I would have killed until I was subdued. But someone snuck up behind me and grabbed me from behind. Antny had rescued my sister and was getting both of us out of there. He hated me then, hated both of us. But at some point he had promised my mother after her sentence that he would protect us. So he did. Antny's word has always been his bond," here a sad sardonic smile seemed to stretch across her pale face.

"They say it is the executions that day and a curse from the nobles that caused the plague. I sometimes have nightmares that it is that fire I felt erupted in me that day. I may never know, we may never know. Anyway-the first person fell ill that eve. Antny stayed with us- especially after Everda fell ill. He and I worked together. In time I thought he had forgiven me for getting everyone killed so horribly. I should have known him better. I am quick top anger but quick to forgive…he was never so. He stayed for the promise he made my mother but he still hated us all. Then Everda fell ill and as her life left her I tried to follow. Death was not allowed me but when I awakened some days after. Antny had left and become guard. The Phoenix had risen. He is the commander-the Captain. Phoenix is actually the guard that killed my family…I will not join them. Antny knows that. We both know if neither yields we will eventually meet on the battlefield. I pray he yields-or that I die before that day." I actually believed her when she said that.

"I tell myself I would not work against Phoenix so fervently if my people, my planet were well taken care of under his rule but that is not so. Phoenix is a hard ruler, cruel and sadistic. My people knew not this cruelty under the Vong…but I know that even were he kind to my people I would work against him."

I sat in silence after that just processing all I knew now about the place I had crash landed.


End file.
